Stuck in a Tree
by queentoherswan
Summary: I took the saying "Stop waiting for Prince Charming. Get up and find him. The poor idiot may be stuck in a tree or something." and played with it, this is the result :) Let me know what you think of it.


Emma slumped onto one of the stools at the bar, smiling at her Ma as she approached, "What's the matter, baby girl?" the brunette asked as she set a beer before Emma.

The blonde smiled at the nickname Red had used for her since just after the curse broke, "I think my Prince or Princess Charming got lost and is stuck in a tree or something, the poor idiot," Emma said with a slight pout.

Staring at her daughter Red couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "Where is this coming from, darling?"

"I had a date tonight," Emma shook her head, "I've had several dates in the past few months."

Red's eyebrow rose, Emma having not revealed this to either of her mothers, or anyone else for that matter except Regina. "Really, baby girl?" she questioned, "With who?"

Closing her eyes Emma started naming her recent date list, "Lets see there was Kathryn, Ariel, Pinocchio, Jefferson, Fiona and tonight, stupidly, Hook."

"So what happened?"

Emma shook her head, "Kathryn is still in love with Fredrick, she'll end up either following him back to the Enchanted Forest or he'll come back for her because Regina says he's in as bad a shape as she is. Ariel, well Ariel oddly enough, misses the sea after all she did to become human. Pinocchio," she shook her head, "I just can't see him as any more than a friend. Jefferson, though he has his daughter back and has settled down, is still a nutter and still in love with his dead wife on top of that. Fiona," a funny look came over Emma's face, "Fiona is much too much for me. And Hook, well don't even get me started on Hook. His main goal for this evening was to find his way into both my bed and my pants." She chuckled, "Instead he found his way into the sea off the side of his ship."

"What'd you do?"

"Broke his nose," she shrugged, "and possibly his pride and more so hopefully his ego." She looked to her mother, "How did you know you were Mom's Princess Charming?"

Red shook her head, "I didn't, not until she told me that I was and even then," her eyes met her daughter's stare as she washed down the counter, "I didn't believe her. I didn't think that a commoner, much less a werewolf commoner could be anything to a beautiful Princess like your mother."

"What changed your mind?"

Moving to stand before her daughter Red folded the rag in her hands and laid it aside crossing her arms and resting on the counter, "One night while we were on the run from Regina we met my mother, your grandmother. She was a werewolf, as I am, as you are. She was the one who taught me to control my wolf but she hated Snow, she hated anyone that wasn't a wolf. She made plans to kill your mother but I couldn't let her do that, the thought alone seemed to rip my heart from my chest." She closed her eyes, "I killed for your mother, had done so before then but that time I killed my own family for your mother because she was my family. She was more family to me than the person who called herself my mother ever was."

"You killed Grandma Anita because she was going to kill Mom?"

Red nodded, "It's not one of my prouder moments," she said, "yet at the same time it is because," she reached out to tuck one of Emma's blonde curls behind the girl's ear, "your Mom was pregnant with you at the time we just didn't know it."

"But –"

"I didn't think I was worthy of your mother but we still loved one another and we," she paused, "most days we were simply worried about surviving not about what our future was going to bring. When we found our little cabin in the woods," she shrugged, "we took advantage of it."  
"Too much information, Ma, even if I did sorta ask for it."

Just then the bell above the door jingled and Emma turned to see who it was, smiling as the newly reinstated Mayor made her way towards them, "I thought you, Henry and Snow were in the Enchanted for another week," Red said, eyes clearly hopeful that her wife had come home a week early.

"We were and they are," Regina said while slipping easily onto the stool at Emma's side, "but I believe I am needed here."

"And just why is that?"

"Because I called her to tell her about my date and she knew I was coming here to drink," Emma said sheepishly from Regina's side.

"Even after I told her to go wallow in her self pity at the mansion away from prying eyes."

"I'd rather get drunk in public and not drink alone," Emma said firmly.  
Red glanced between the two women before her and smirked, "Does that mean we can go back to the mansion and drink now because I myself prefer not to be drunk in public."

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, sure, Cider sounds better than anything else anyway, no offense, Ma."

"None taken," Red said with a small smile. She eyed her daughter and chose her next words very carefully, "And, Em," the blonde looked up to her mother, "that person you feared was stuck in a tree, well I think you just aren't looking hard enough."

Regina looked confused until Emma spoke once more, "Well if you see my Charming, if the poor idiot isn't really stuck in a tree, just tell them I'll be passed out on my best friend's couch, ok?"

Red shook her head, her daughter was clueless sometimes, "Sure, Em, I'll tell them." Regina shook her head, still lost on the language of the Charming women sometimes but now she knew how to get Emma's attention at least.

A few days later Emma was sitting at her desk at the station contemplating what her Ma had said a few nights before and trying to figure out the meaning behind the words when the emergency line rang, "Sheriff Swan," she said picking it up. "What do you mean the Mayor is stuck in a tree?" She listened for a moment then shook her head, "Yeah, okay, I'll be right there."

Leaving the office Emma was completely baffled by the situation that Regina's secretary had described, still she made her way straight for City Hall and headed directly toward Regina's apple tree, finding the Mayor sitting on one of the branches about halfway up. "Sheriff Swan," she said cordially.

"Regina," Emma said as she slipped her hands into her pockets and looked up to her friend, "What exactly is going on?"

Regina smirked, "Oh you know, Sheriff, just a poor idiot stuck in a tree."

Emma stared up at the woman sitting above her, "You're no idiot."

Looking down Regina smiled slightly, "No but I believe I may be in love with one. She's this blonde thing about your height, calls me her best friend but fails to realize what a complete idiot she is."

"Hey now," the blonde said while reaching up to smack at Regina's closest foot because it was all she could reach of the other woman.  
"Well I'm sorry, darling, I did everything but spell it out for you and you were still utterly clueless."

"Well you know you could have, I don't know, spelled it out."

"There's no fun in that."

Emma chuckled, "Will you come down so I can kiss you now?"

Regina's cheeks turned red, "Well see, there might be a problem there."

"You really are stuck in the tree now aren't you?"

Feeling the heat rising even more into her cheeks Regina glared, "I might be, yes."

"Hang on then," Emma said and then grabbed the lowest branch of the tree, hoisting herself up and then climbing up until she was at Regina's side, "much better."

"Now you're in the tree too."

Emma grinned, "Now I'm in the tree too," she said, "and now that I'm in the tree I'm going to kiss my Princess Charming."

Their lips were almost touching when Regina murmured, "Queen, darling, Queen Charming."

Smiling Emma grumbled, "Shut up," and then kissed Regina a smile on both of their lips.


End file.
